Guy Fawkes image used as hacker group’s signature disguise is owned by the media giant

Hacker group Anonymous is benefitting those it is seeking to destroy; for every Guy Fawkes mask, worn by Anonymous as a disguise, a percentage goes to giant media conglomerate Time Warner, according to the New York Times.

Time Warner owns the rights to the Guy Fawkes image used to model the plastic masks, which Anonymous members wear when they appear in public to protest what they view as corruption or the restriction of information by governments and corporations.

Guy Fawkes was a 17th-century Englishman who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in the UK.

The mask resonates with the hackers as it was worn by a rogue anarchist challenging an authoritarian government in ‘V for Vendetta', the Warner Brothers movie from 2006.

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"It's a symbol of what Anonymous stands for, of fighting evil governments," a mask-wearing protestor told The New York Times at a protest. "You can get a mask and join the fight, too! But I heard the costume store is sold out until Friday," he said.

With the growth of the hacker group, the mask has become one of the most popular disguises and has added to the $28bn Time Warner earned in 2010.

Anonymous committed cyber-attacks against the Iranian government and the Church of Scientology and briefly shut down the Syrian and Turkish government websites.